"I'm going to carve the longest, lightest, most-linked chain in the world," he said.

So far, he has painstakingly drilled 47,250 holes to rough out 10,034 links made of basswood stretching 470 feet.

"I'm going to 500 feet. That s my goal," he said.

The chain looks more like jewelry than woodcarving. Each link is the tiniest sliver of wood, planed with the point of an X-Acto knife. Each link so light that the entire chain is only 4.6 ounces, as weighed on the postage scale at the Port Orange post office. Selvey can show you the receipt. He's meticulous that way.

His previous long chain is on display at the other side of the world.

"The Selvey long chain is in our museum in Australia," said Edward Meyer, vice president of exhibits and archives of Ripley's Entertainment, operators of the Ripley's Believe it Not museums.

It's in a tall glass display case in Surfers Paradise, near Brisbane, sharing a room with a reproduction of the "Last Supper" made out of burnt toast and a model of New Zealand's Christ Church Cathedral made from 500,000 wooden matchsticks.

"We have many other carvings by John," said Meyer. "John lives about an hour north of our offices, and I literally bought a carload of artifacts and drove them to Orlando back in 2009. We have chains, beer mugs, Christmas ornaments, cutlery, canes, et cetera . . . over 100 individual pieces, comprising 52 different displays."

Selvey's chain in Australia is 407 feet long, has 10,034 links and is the world's longest wooden chain, according to the museum's Web site.

But here, one might insert some caveats and updates.

The Guinness World Record's longest wooden chain is longer. Made by Giovanni Bressan in Italy, it is 611 feet, 5 inches, and made from a single piece of wood. It surpassed the old record of 487 feet, 6 inches, carved by Markley Noel of Hickory Corners, Mich., also made from a single piece of wood.

But these are chains with big links, almost 4 inches. Selvey's chains have half-inch links. And many, many more of them.

"There's a guy who has the record of the longest chain, but it's machined," Selvey said. "He couldn't do it this way."

His goal is not just the longest carved chain; it's to carve the chain that's longest, lightest and has the most links.

Selvey's chain is not from one piece of wood. He gets the wood by mail in 2-foot-long by 6-inch-wide pieces and cuts them with a table saw into 2-foot by quarter-inch sticks.

Then, he hand cuts the edges of the perfectly spaced links with an X-Acto knife, giving each stick of wood an X-shaped cross-section. He cuts some notches between the links using a handsaw with teeth so tiny you must squint to make them out and starts the inside of each link with a hole made with a Dremel drill.

The rest is whittling, a tiny sliver at a time.

Selvey came late to carving but threw himself into it. The 74-year-old retired homebuilder moved here in 1980 from Long Island, N.Y., but his voice still has more than a trace of his native Boston. In 1995, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and given three years to live. "Still here!" he exclaims.

He recovered, but his wife of 41 years died of the same illness soon after.

And not just chains, although he's done all kinds of chains. He carves cages with balls that freely roll even though they're made from a single piece wood, elaborate canes, tiny houses ... he keeps pictures in a photo album. He takes down a lighthouse that he carved. It's a foot tall, made of cottonwood, and each rock in its pebbly surface is lovingly carved in strong relief. Inside a window at the base — he has to shine a flashlight through it show you — are fingernail-size tables and chairs.

A detail he enjoys showing off. He prides himself on putting some distinctive touch of his own on anything he carves.

"I don't do anything most people do," he says. It's something of a motto of his.

He also found out he was allergic to cottonwood. "This put me in Halifax (Health Medical Center) three times," he said.

But basswood, he's OK with. And now that he's in the home stretch with the chain, he's getting serious. Carving in stretches of 10-12 hours a day, taking three to five days to do 2 feet.

"I think in two months I should be totally done. I told my friends, 'don't call me for the month or two.' "

This time, he wants to contact Guinness World Records but finds their verification process forbidding.

"I just want people to enjoy it," he says. "That's what I do my work for is for people to see it and enjoy it, and my name will be around. ... Someday somebody will look at that and say, you know, 'Wow, John Selvey did that.' "

<p>DAYTONA BEACH &mdash; John Selvey has a goal. </p><p>A goal he works at mostly in the evenings in a small kitchen workbench at his Daytona Beach mobile home, hunched over a large illuminated magnifying glass. </p><p>A goal that has consumed 2,000 X-Acto knife blades and 315 needlelike Dremel-tool drill bits. </p><p>A goal he has pursued since 2011. </p><p>"I'm going to carve the longest, lightest, most-linked chain in the world," he said. </p><p>So far, he has painstakingly drilled 47,250 holes to rough out 10,034 links made of basswood stretching 470 feet. </p><p>"I'm going to 500 feet. That s my goal," he said. </p><p>The chain looks more like jewelry than woodcarving. Each link is the tiniest sliver of wood, planed with the point of an X-Acto knife. Each link so light that the entire chain is only 4.6 ounces, as weighed on the postage scale at the Port Orange post office. Selvey can show you the receipt. He's meticulous that way. </p><p>His previous long chain is on display at the other side of the world. </p><p>"The Selvey long chain is in our museum in Australia," said Edward Meyer, vice president of exhibits and archives of Ripley's Entertainment, operators of the Ripley's Believe it Not museums. </p><p>It's in a tall glass display case in Surfers Paradise, near Brisbane, sharing a room with a reproduction of the "Last Supper" made out of burnt toast and a model of New Zealand's Christ Church Cathedral made from 500,000 wooden matchsticks. </p><p>"We have many other carvings by John," said Meyer. "John lives about an hour north of our offices, and I literally bought a carload of artifacts and drove them to Orlando back in 2009. We have chains, beer mugs, Christmas ornaments, cutlery, canes, et cetera . . . over 100 individual pieces, comprising 52 different displays." </p><p>He said the Selvey's wood carvings are displayed in Ripley museums at Jeju Island, Korea; Prince Edward Island, Canada; Jackson Hole, Wyo.; and Baltimore. </p><p>Selvey's chain in Australia is 407 feet long, has 10,034 links and is the world's longest wooden chain, according to the museum's Web site. </p><p>But here, one might insert some caveats and updates. </p><p>The Guinness World Record's longest wooden chain is longer. Made by Giovanni Bressan in Italy, it is 611 feet, 5 inches, and made from a single piece of wood. It surpassed the old record of 487 feet, 6 inches, carved by Markley Noel of Hickory Corners, Mich., also made from a single piece of wood. </p><p>But these are chains with big links, almost 4 inches. Selvey's chains have half-inch links. And many, many more of them. </p><p>"There's a guy who has the record of the longest chain, but it's machined," Selvey said. "He couldn't do it this way." </p><p>His goal is not just the longest carved chain; it's to carve the chain that's longest, lightest and has the most links. </p><p>Selvey's chain is not from one piece of wood. He gets the wood by mail in 2-foot-long by 6-inch-wide pieces and cuts them with a table saw into 2-foot by quarter-inch sticks. </p><p>Then, he hand cuts the edges of the perfectly spaced links with an X-Acto knife, giving each stick of wood an X-shaped cross-section. He cuts some notches between the links using a handsaw with teeth so tiny you must squint to make them out and starts the inside of each link with a hole made with a Dremel drill. </p><p>The rest is whittling, a tiny sliver at a time. </p><p>Selvey came late to carving but threw himself into it. The 74-year-old retired homebuilder moved here in 1980 from Long Island, N.Y., but his voice still has more than a trace of his native Boston. In 1995, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and given three years to live. "Still here!" he exclaims. </p><p>He recovered, but his wife of 41 years died of the same illness soon after. </p><p>He was drawn to all kinds of crafts &mdash; "I've done everything else: painting, leather cutting, wood burning, gem cutting . . . but carving was what stuck." </p><p>And not just chains, although he's done all kinds of chains. He carves cages with balls that freely roll even though they're made from a single piece wood, elaborate canes, tiny houses ... he keeps pictures in a photo album. He takes down a lighthouse that he carved. It's a foot tall, made of cottonwood, and each rock in its pebbly surface is lovingly carved in strong relief. Inside a window at the base &mdash; he has to shine a flashlight through it show you &mdash; are fingernail-size tables and chairs. </p><p>A detail he enjoys showing off. He prides himself on putting some distinctive touch of his own on anything he carves. </p><p>"I don't do anything most people do," he says. It's something of a motto of his.</p><p>He also found out he was allergic to cottonwood. "This put me in Halifax (Health Medical Center) three times," he said. </p><p>But basswood, he's OK with. And now that he's in the home stretch with the chain, he's getting serious. Carving in stretches of 10-12 hours a day, taking three to five days to do 2 feet. </p><p>"I think in two months I should be totally done. I told my friends, 'don't call me for the month or two.' " </p><p>This time, he wants to contact Guinness World Records but finds their verification process forbidding. </p><p>"I just want people to enjoy it," he says. "That's what I do my work for is for people to see it and enjoy it, and my name will be around. ... Someday somebody will look at that and say, you know, 'Wow, John Selvey did that.' "</p>